A South Korean court has approved an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached by parliament earlier this month over his failed attempt to impose martial law in the east Asian country.
The move on Tuesday marked the first time in South Korea that an arrest warrant has been issued against an incumbent president.
The Seoul Western District Court also issued a search warrant for Yoon’s residence, following a request from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is investigating the president for treason and abuse of power.
The warrants came after Yoon ignored the agency’s repeated summons for questioning, and marked the latest blow in an escalating political crisis that has raised concerns about the health of democracy in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Last week, opposition parties impeached acting president Han Duck-soo after he refused to appoint three justices to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court, which is deliberating whether to remove Yoon from office.
It remains unclear whether the agency will carry out the warrants, which are valid until Monday. The CIO said it planned to execute the warrants, but the president’s security service blocked a prior police attempt to raid his office following Yoon’s impeachment on December 14 under a law that bans searches of locations with state secrets without approval.
The presidential security service said on Tuesday that security measures would be taken according to the legal process.
His lawyers said they planned to file an injunction to the Constitutional Court to dispute the warrants’ validity and prevent his arrest, claiming that the martial law decree did not constitute insurrection.
